Hour 1 - F-15 Crew Member Rescued

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Welcome everybody to the Friday edition of the Clay Travis. And Buck Sexton Show, we have some big breaking news. We're going to dive into here. Mr. Clay, break it down for everybody. Ah, well, here's the situation. We have a pilot. or pilots rather, who are down. And we are looking for them right now. We don't know exactly the situation. We don't know what is happening in Iran. At this very moment, we know there's a search and rescue operation underway. And we have a very obviously nervous nation wondering what is going on. And I had to run up a flight of stairs really quickly. usually clay would be able to help me out but right now apparently you are off the air clay is that what's going on you i think is my mic or there we go now there he is there we go leaving me leaving me high and dry there for a second why don't you talk while i catch my breath There is, I mean, this is very serious here as we come into Easter weekend. We have got a F-15 that has been shot down in Iran that nobody has any real updates on other than there are a lot of people trying to, as you would well imagine, track down these two pilots, I believe is the report so far. Iran is doing everything they can, certainly, to take these pilots in as hostages, and the United States is doing everything we can to try to find these individuals and bring them home safely. So we don't know a lot of other details about that, except the search is underway. I hope, Buck, that we will have some resolution in a positive way before this program is over today. But that is probably the biggest... by far, new story coming out of Iran, much less significantly in terms of life or death in the short term. We had a great report on jobs, and we saw a huge amount of new jobs out there. And I actually flagged this buck, which I thought was super interesting, that we have hit the lowest number of federal employees since 1966 in this country as part of the Doge cuts. I know there's a lot of frustration about what exactly happened and how the Doge cuts were applied. But we have now ended up with the fewest federal employees going all the way back to 1966. And on top of that, we added 178,000 new jobs in March, which shattered the expectations of all the economists out there and drove down the unemployment rate to 4.3%. Let me hit a couple of those new stories here. Cut one, the U.S. economy adding.

Nearly 200,000 New York new jobs, unexpectedly, 178,000 to be exact. The expectation was, what, 60,000 jobs and it's 178? Wow. Yeah, look, the job market bounced back in a big way in March, and that is good news, really blowing away expectations. Also, the director of National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett, said this is an absolute blockbuster number, a sign that the economy is going really well as we enter into the spring cycle, cut to. This is an absolute blockbuster number. It's one of the best numbers that you've seen in a long time. And what it shows is that all of the cumulative policies that President Trump has pushed the no tax on tips, no tax on overtimes, making the old Trump tax cuts permit it, deregulation, $18 trillion in new investments in the U.S. through our trade deals. All of that stuff, plus a big reduction in the trade deficit, has created an enormous amount of momentum for... the U.S. economy. And so that momentum cannot be upended by a temporary Middle East scurbage. Okay, so very positive there as we are coming into the spring hiring season. I would just say, Buck, stock market has stabilized with Iran. Oil and gas seems to be moving through the Strait of Hormuz, not at the level in which it was before, but at a much higher level than it was only a few weeks ago. I know that overall price of oil and gas has gone up because it is a global commodity, but there is no actual shortage. And given the fact that the United States is energy independent, a lot of those dollars are staying in the country in a way that they would not have been in years past. But the overall trend lines, I think as we come into this Easter holiday weekend, very good on the economy in general based on those hiring numbers. That's absolutely true. I think the economy continues to be a place where you know it's going well because if it wasn't. The anti-Trump media would be talking about it every five seconds. It would be their single biggest focus by far. And we'd be hearing a lot about how Trumponomics is a failure or Trumponomics is hurting the middle class or whatever it may be. They can't even come up with ways to spin these metrics so that. It looks like Trump does not know what he's doing. But we also have some updates, Clay. I know you're a space guy on the Artemis launch, which I think has gotten a lot of attention from people all over the U.S. and really around the world. And then some follow-up to the Pam Bondi firing as well, more details on all of that. And you're even starting to see, maybe we'll get into this in the third hour, the First Lady of California. Yes. Jennifer Gavin Newsom, Gavin Newsom's wife.

Gavin's got a problem, which is that she is not going to be, I think, particularly helpful if he's trying to connect with the heartland. So we'll get into all of that. But, yeah, in the meantime, Clay, it's still very much just on everyone's mind. I think that the pilots are right now behind enemy lines. And this F-15E that has been... They're saying, I've heard it both. Shot down, brought down mechanical failure, you know, meaning or could have come down because of mechanical failure. Do we have, team, can we make sure we check on that just up to the minute right before we went on air? Fox was reporting that it was a downed plane, but not necessarily shot down. But the Wall Street Journal is saying shot down. There is obviously a big difference. Sometimes a plane will malfunction is expensive and advanced as these planes are. So let's get that assessment. Also, we don't know the status of the airmen who were down. But I think Clay also, and I heard this in one of the... In some of the news coverage, people saying, well, this, and they don't really know what to call the situation. This is a war. We've been saying it's a war. When you are blowing up, using your military to blow up another nation's military, it's a war, and it's dangerous stuff, and it's deadly serious. And even with our superiority in military terms, we have people in harm's way. We have lost people already to enemy fire. So this is a war. I think everyone needs to just call it what it is. I've heard incursion. you know, excursion, you know, aerial campaign. This is a war. People are dying. And you can be all in favor of this action behind the Trump administration, but just understand that this is real. And this thing can change in a heartbeat. And we can feel like, you know, all of a sudden it's all brought home to us. Yeah, I think in general there's a lot of dancing around the verbiage because of Congresses and not being involved in declaring a war. And this goes into the War Powers Act and everything else. So Trump has kind of danced around the language. But it's clear we're in an armed conflict. It's a war with whatever you want to officially call it. And, Buck, you've probably been involved in. A war is a violent, prolonged conflict between organized groups, typically nation states. This is a war. So just to be clear, this is a war. What do you think in terms of the extraction efforts that are going on right now? I would think this is by far the number one priority of everything that's going on in the Middle East. We know that these airplanes are very easy to track.

I would be curious if we've got people out in the audience right now who may have been involved in extractions before. In fact, I bet we probably do have some of those people, given the fact we can open up phone lines, 800-282-282. If you guys could let us know, I would be curious, Buck, in general, I would presume that these soldiers have some sort of beacon that they are able to turn on when they hit the ground. The jet obviously is likely to have ended up a substantial distance from where they are. And then to what extent are they able to find, first of all, can they land safely when they eject themselves? And we hope that they did. Secondly, to what extent can they protect themselves? Are they safe and secure in the sense that they're not severely injured? All of those things at play right now. I would think that we probably have pretty good communication data. and would know exactly where these guys are if they're able to turn that on. Yeah, I think we know where the plane is. I think we can assume we know where the plane is, but the Iranians probably also know where the plane is. And so then you get into something of a race against time where we, first off, we don't know the status of the pilots. That may be intentional, meaning the Pentagon may know, but they're not yet sharing because they don't want to give any additional information to the enemy in this case. But let's assume the pilots are alive, and certainly, hopefully, God willing, they are. That means that we have to get to them, extract them. That's priority number one, getting our guys, perhaps a gal or gals, we don't know, but probably guys, getting them back safely. Priority number two, Clay, would be dealing, yes, sir. CNN is reporting that we have rescued one of the two crew on the down jet, according to sources. That literally just reported by breaking news on CNN. that one of the two pilots has now been rescued by the United States. I mean, that's certainly incredible news. We want to know about the other pilots still, but it's fantastic to get one of them back and know that that pilot is safe and sound. It is a little concerning that we have not heard about the other. You would think they would. very likely be together. But I don't want to get beyond that right now. We don't know. I mean, it's all surmising at this point. And it certainly is, I understand this is real life. These are pilots with families and they're Americans. But in terms of some of the context of what the response is and everything else, if you've seen, I think it's behind enemy lines with Gene Hackman and... Who is the guy? Gosh, I can't remember his name right. Wilson, Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, one of the Wilson brothers. You've seen this movie, Clay? It's based on a true story. It's based on a guy who went down during one of our Balkans, one of our Balkan wars. He got shot down and then had to evade.

behind enemy lines for a period of time i forget exactly but it's a pretty good movie uh and it is based on you know inspired by true events but we have one pilot home thank god and we'll see if we can find out more about the other one Yes, and we'll take your calls. I'm curious again, reports from CNN right off the screen there that we have rescued one of the two. But I want to tell you right now, if you could use a little bit of extra energy in your life, all you need to do is go to chalk right now. CHOQ.com, my name Clay, for the lowest possible discount on a subscription for life. Plus, $99 chocolate powder. You're going to love it. Be glad that you signed up. And as we come into this Easter holiday weekend when so many of you have so many different events with friends and family, maybe you need a little bit of extra juice, a little bit of extra of them, bigger vitality in your life. That's what chalk's all about. C-H-O-Q.com. My name, Clay. That's C-H-O-Q. My name, C-L-A-Y. Making America Great Again isn't just one man. It's many. The Team 47 podcast. Sundays at noon Eastern in the Clay and Buck podcast feed. Find it on the IHeard Radio app or wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome back in, Clay Travis, Buck Sexton show. We appreciate all of you hanging out with us on this Friday going into... Into a holiday weekend, many of you not working today. Again, the big report that there is an F-15 down and we have rescued, according to sources, one of those pilots, one still missing, that is the report from CNN that is up right now as that continues. And... Buck, again, CNN breaking news, one rescued, one still missing from a down to F-15. And so this is going to, I think, certainly turn into the Friday news story that is dominant in many ways. We've got a bunch of different callers. I can't believe this is the criticism. Robert in Sacramento, you're concerned that we might be giving the enemy information by discussing how we might be able to extract our pilots on this radio show. You think they're listening in Tehran and they're like, oh, let's listen to Clay and Buck and make sure we understand American military procedures? Now, actually, I'm just reminding everybody that loose lifting ships, and I'm not suggesting that maybe you as much as some of the legacy media, but I think it's important to remember that when we have somebody on the ground and we're discussing assets, we should consider the possibilities that somebody is listening. I, too, have a radio station. I will not mention it. And I have listeners in Tehran.

Yes, if you know exactly the longitude and the latitude of where a potential extraction might be occurring in Iran, you should not go on television and say, this is where the missing pilot is located based on my sources. I think the chances of that are zero. Zero. And it's a big country. There are 90 million people there. The terrain potentially buck of where this could be is unlike, it's not like the guy went down in Tehran. So the idea that I think anybody on American media is going to somehow give away. I understand not liking legacy media and everything else, but come on. Well, yeah, I mean, also, we're talking about it because it's the number one news story in the country right now, meaning every news source on the planet is talking about it. And so. I don't think we're giving away. I don't know what to tell you. If it's the front page of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and CNN simultaneously, and it's running on Fox News, I think it's fair game to talk about. Anyway, I thought that was a silly call. If I knew something about specifically about the procedures and was discussing them, that's one thing, that would be under, by the way, there's something called classification, which I do not violate and never have, and would not on this program. But I've seen movies. The Iranians have seen movies. We know that when a plane is shot down, people try to rescue the pilot. That's not, there's not a big giveaway there. Anyway, I won't waste any more time on that. Jeffrey in Wisconsin. What's going on, Jeffrey? Oh, nothing. Not much. Happy Easter, fellas, you deserve it. Thank you. Happy Easter to you. Yeah, thank you. Thank you very much. Just a couple of quick thoughts. As soon as I heard about the pilots being shot down, my first thought was that the Trump administration is not going to allow this in any shape, form or fashion for these individuals to be used as leverage in a hostage negotiation. If I think back to the Reagan administration, how many days the hostages were over there, the Trump administration generally moves fairly swiftly and completes their objectives. And if it's not completed, swiftly, they do go through the course and they follow their procedures and they get the people they want. It might not be right away, but in a case like this with a highly trained pilots. I think they're going to move in. They're going to do what they have to, but the resources that they have. Well, they already got one. You heard Clay talk about that, right? They've already rescued one of the pilots according to CNN. Absolutely. That gives me a chill listening to you guys talk about it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, thank you. Thank you very much, but thank you for calling in. We'll continue to follow this. Obviously, it's breaking news. We want to hear very much. There's a second pilot that has been saved. We want to hear that confirmation, and we will get to that. Hopefully, God willing, as soon as we possibly can.

Look, we talk about how to protect yourself and protect everyone in your family, and sometimes that's with lethal methods, but other times it's with non-lethal methods. That's what Sabre is all about. Saber is spelled SABRE website SaberRadio.com. When fear hits and you want a non-lethal way to protect you and your family, you can get hooked up with the best possible outcome with pepper gels, stun guns, all of it. When safety matters, America chooses Sabre, the number one brand trusted by police and millions worldwide. Sabre, SABRE is how it's spelled. We have every single one of their products here in our home. They make a huge difference for us and they can make a huge difference for you as well. Don't wait for a close call. Get protection now at saberradio.com. That's SABRE Radio.com. 844-824-safe 844-824-824 SAFE. Welcome back in, play Travis Buck Sexton show. This is a very positive story. So we're waiting on news about the second F-15 pilot. We'll get to some of your calls. But earlier this week on Wednesday, we sent Artemis into space. And right now, the... astronauts are in the process of beginning to circle the moon. They are headed to the moon right now. And one of those individuals is a black astronaut. And I think there's been black astronauts as long as I've been a lot, Buck. So the idea that we would have a black astronaut, not necessarily a huge story, but of course because the media is obsessed with all of the identity politics-laden elements. One of them asked Artemis II pilot Victor Glover about what it means to be a black man going to space, and he gave what I thought was a fantastic answer. This is cut five, Victor Glover, astronaut in space now, but right before he was asked about the significance of his race as it pertains to this mission. It is a big question. And I want to highlight, I guess maybe one facet of this is the tension, I call it. I live in this dichotomy between... happiness that a young woman can look at Christina and just physicalize her passion or her interest or even if it's not something she wants to do she can just be like girl power and that's awesome and that young brown boys and girls can look at me and go hey he looks like me and he's doing what and that's great i love that but i also hope we are pushing the other direction that one day we don't have to talk about these first that one day this is just that i listen to this that this is the human history. It's about human history. It's the story of humanity, not black history, not women's history, but that it becomes human history. That's perfect. As a perfect answer. 10 out of 10 could not improve excellent stuff.

And so I liked that going into Easter weekend. I also like this. This kid went viral for the CNN about why this is real. We had to believe him. But this is a fired up astronaut kid. This is producer Greg when he was eight. He's asked why he is so excited. about the Artemis launch. And this is what he said. This aired on CNN, cut six. Why do you want to be here? Why do you love space? Why do you love being a part of history? We're going back to the freaking moon. That's why. We may have needed to bleep that. He said, he said, freaking. I thought he said the F word. Am I wrong? Are we plead? Okay. All right. All right. No, he said freaking. Okay. Which I just said, so I believe you're allowed to say that. Okay. I am a, uh, get your freak on up. You could say freak. Uh, I guess I am a, I, okay, he would, I don't want to throw the kid. I thought we had to bleep the kid. Wow. Did you just, did you just old man yourself? Are. You're old manning yourself right now by mishearing. You're like, oh, the damnabit kid with his curse word. Can we play that again? Am I the old boy? He doesn't curse. He doesn't curse. The kid does not curse. Let's listen to him again. I totally thought he cursed. Tell me, am I just deaf? Here we go. Why do you want to be here? Why do you love space? Why do you love being a part of history? We're going back to the freaking moon. That's why. Yeah, I hear that 100% as an F bomb. Freaking. No. I hope we're right. By the end of this show, they're going to be taking us out in handcuffs. The FCC is going to show up at my door. I'm going to be going out of the show.

You know, back in olden times when you'd have like your man jam as you go to sleep and you'd have the, for the old man, and you'd have the thing you'd put up to your ear, it was like a horn, almost like a, like a phonograph, but you stick it in your ear, we'll get you one of those, you know? I think you need one. I can't be the only person who hears. He did not curse. I can't be the only person who hears. Producers in NYC. New York City Squad, there was no F-bomb there, correct? No, they say it's freaking. Allie? So, but I heard it differently. Can I tell you my favorite? I've had the word police come after me on this show for saying, darn, under the premise that I might as well just say the other word because everybody knows what I mean. And to this, I've had to respond. But I didn't say the other word, and that's the whole point. So some people have very tight rules on this stuff. Oh, I got accused of having too salty of a language one time when I think I used the word bottom on a show. And they were like, hey, you need to watch with the salacious. I'm serious. When I started in radio, bottom was told to me to be a borderline word. You got to be close when you say bottom. You know what no one says anymore? Tush. What's wrong with Tush? No, I would push back here. For your behind. People say it all the time now for football with the tush push, you know, which is for anybody out there. The first down that the Philadelphia Eagles get with Jalen Hertz is a play where he quarterback sneaks and then someone comes running in behind him and gives him the tush push. It's legal under NFL rules to allow somebody to be pushed from behind and it's basically an unstoppable first down getter. on third or fourth down for everybody, everybody out there. So Tush has come back only in that context. That would not have been my first guess as to what a Tush push is. So there we go. Thank you for educating me on that. Back to the Artemis launch. So we have a brilliant answer from that astronaut. So these guys have left low Earth orbit, right? They're on their way to loop around the far side of the moon. As soon as you say far side of the moon, right, we're all thinking the same thing, right? Are you a Pink Floyd guy? Oh, I was thinking about, that's a very famous song, but I was thinking about the, didn't they do a Transformers where they said on the dark side of the moon, there was, they did an entire premise on it being like filled with all sorts of transformer-related activities. Far side of the moon, dark side of the moon, I'm saying it's close enough that I think that's what people think of. But this is the furthest that humans have gone in over half a century. Testing the Orion spacecraft for missions that will put boots back on that lunar surface, aka the moon. It is a giant leap, you could say, Clay.

towards sustainable exploration, a new era of American leadership up in space. And there's going to be the lunar flyby in the days. Producer Greg, are you... How are you celebrating the lunar flyby? Are you getting together with all of your space friends? You guys can be like, beep, beep, beep, space? Oh, he's not in studio. Oh, all right. I was throwing him, throwing him, because he's the guy who gets the special glasses. He says he is super celebrating. He's out of studio today, but super celebrating. And, of course, the guy who took a day off to go watch the eclipse would be excited about going back to the moon. I mean, I think he took a day off to go watch the lunar whatever's going on right now. So, you know, he's remote. He's remote. But there's going to be a splash down in the Pacific on April 10th or 11th. They're saying, Artemis 2 is just the beginning, my friends, Artemis 3 lunar landings, crude lunar landings are coming soon. We're going to get back on the moon. My question to you about this, Clay. My question to you, sir, will there be people claiming that this moon landing? is also faked or will we didn't land on the moon people say oh no this one is real we only faked the one before i'm just like where do the conspiracy folks go on this one like do you double down it's all fake the earth is glad and how committed are you to it is a good question because i would imagine the technology of our ability to transmit what happens from the moon today compared to coming up on the next trip. I mean, they're going around it this time, so they're not actually touching down. But I think the Artemis next Artemis trip, the idea is that we'll go there. And we talked with Jared Isaacman earlier this week, and he told us the goal is to have an actual moon base put in place. And so I do think that it will become impossible. for the moon landing never happened people. I think a lot of them will moderate it and say, well, we didn't do it in 69, but now the technology has advanced substantially. I mean, it really is kind of extraordinary. We talked about this when we talked with Isaacman. One of my favorite stats of human progress, Buck, is that Orville and Wilbur Wright flew airplanes for the first time. Flight became a reality in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. 66 years later, we put men on the moon. It honestly is pretty extraordinary to think about how rapid that trajectory was from never having flown before to putting a man on the moon, 66 years. And then basically we just froze. We haven't really done anything. And then Elon Musk comes back in. I know we did the space station. Some people always want to talk about, oh, we built the international space station. Okay. We haven't been back to the moon since 71, I think, right? I do believe if you'd gone back to 1969 and talked to Americans who were watching us walk on the moon that day, and you told them, hey, where will we be in 2026? The idea that we'd be returning to the moon and not that much progress in space travel would have occurred, I think would have been hard for them to believe. And I think, again, the private sector has actually been the group that has driven much of the success.

Well, SpaceX, I know that this is, we're talking Artemis and NASA. And there's also Blue Origin. As you know, I went up and checked out the Blue Origin facility and also visited NASA the same day and saw our Secretary of War. And had a whole bunch of briefings and press conferences and things like that about all the things going on here. Elon Musk with SpaceX, and we have to go to SpaceX, by the way. Let's just put that on the show calendar. You and I have to get down there and see this. 100%. Apparently, it's incredible. And by the, I had an Uber driver recently, speaking of Elon Musk, who just like Clay, he's gone so, he was so full Tesla that he says if I don't get a Tesla, I'm crazy. He's right his position on it. He says if you don't like driving, but you have to be in a car, if you don't get a Tesla, you're nuts. That was his take. I think that's 100% correct. And by the way, for SpaceX, there is talk that is part of the IPO, which is going to happen this summer, that they're going to be bringing a ton of people in. to be able to see what the technology is and kind of roll out the red carpet, so to speak, for the investing public to see whether or not they want to jump in. But Elon Musk views this as creating the baseline infrastructure for future space generation. In 100 years, people will look back at what's going on right now as... absolutely critical. I truly believe this. Elon Musk believes this, so I'm really just reiterating what he's said on this, but this is when we became a really a multi-planetary species, or the beginnings of a multi-planetary species, meaning that we are going to get to Mars. These things are happening now. They are within sight. It is serious, all of the above. So it's really cool, honestly. And I'm not even as into spaces. Clay is more into space in the Civil War than me. I'm more into classical music. See, we cover a lot of ground here. You know, we have our, we have our areas of nerddom. You know what I'm reading right now? I'm reading a thousand page book. I don't even know this because all my Kindle looked up last night. I'm like, wow, it's kind of slow going. A thousand page book on the 30 years war. Who even sits there and reads a thousand page book of the 30 years war? I don't know. Weird guys like you and me. This is what we do. I'm glad that that author at least has a reader. Yeah, Wilson. I mean, you're reading it. Think about the guy who wrote the book. A thousand pages. I would love to know how many copies he's actually sold. Think about how many hours. My book was 200 manufacturing delusion available in fine bookstores and on Amazon everywhere. My book is like 200 and something pages. Your books are 200 something thousand pages? Yeah. Did you just live in like a library and a writing room or something for like 10 years? I don't know. It's pretty amazing. Anyway, it's very interesting. One day I'll just. go on some tangent about the 30 years war. It's actually quite important. Quite important. Here's a fun fact about it. I shouldn't, sorry, I'm going to retract that. Fun fact is not the right word. Here's an interesting fact about it. The highest, of all of Europe's wars for the region where this was fought primarily in Germany, including the First World War and the Second World War, the highest percentage of the overall population killed.

then I think that's probably the direction they would go in the Senate. He would be confirmed with ease. And I think you'd do a great job as Attorney General. D podcast listener Neil in North Carolina. Let's hear from Neil. I just wanted to comment on the Democrat you guys interviewed today. I really appreciate that you did that. I think that you should have more Democrats on if they're willing, not because we need to hear what they have to say, but because this may be one of the only places they will actually get asked hard questions, and they will have to actually go on record and answer them. I agree. Look, I don't think most of those guys and gals will come on. But the feedback that I saw, and I know there's feedback everywhere, you can find whatever you want, people seem to enjoy that he came on. And, you know, again, when you say, I voted for Kamala Harris, I think for a lot of you, that's not a, that's a disqualifying part. But he made his case, and I give him credit for willing to come on when a lot of Democrats wouldn't. We'll come back. Take more of your calls Friday. Ready, set, summer with the Honda Summer event. With available features like all-terrain tires and off-road tuned suspension, the rugged Honda pilot, bridgeline, CRV, and passport. Have all you need to get summer ready with the most fuel-efficient full-line automaker in America. Visit your local Honda dealer today. See Dealer for financing details. Based on EPA estimate of 24 large full-line automaker fleet-wide fuel economy, EPA Automotive Trends Report 2025.